 "This aerial picture shows a bullet-riddled portrait of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad adorning Hama's municipality building after it was defaced following the capture of the city by anti government fighters. AFP")
As the rebel forces encircled the Syrian capital of Damascus after capturing the city of Homs, rumours started to swirl that the country’s president Bashar Al Assad had fled the country. Uncertainty started to grow despite the Syrian forces having rejected the report multiple times. The office of the Syrian president maintained that Assad is still at work in Damascus, but there has been no sign of him anywhere in the capital.
Many even started to monitor flights in and out of Syria as the whereabouts of the Syrian leader remain unclear. Syria has remained a divided country with long-lasting scars after a never-ending civil war. While the tensions in the country remained dormant for years, things started to escalate this month. In the span of a few weeks, the Syrian rebel groups have taken over several key cities like Aleppo, Homs, Daraa, etc.
However, if Assad leaves the country, a regime change might become inevitable. If he is out of the picture, a power vacuum will re-emerge without a clear indication of how it will be filled. It is pertinent to note that even if the insurgents take over, there is still no unified opposition that is in place to replace Assad. The rebel factions have a history of division and fighting.
Syrian rebels claim to enter Damascus
In the early hours of Sunday, Syrian rebel forces said that they had started entering the Syrian capital of Damascus. In a subsequent post, the insurgents announced that they had begun freeing detainees from Sednaya prison, a notorious detention facility near Damascus.
Sednaya is touted as a symbol of the Assad regime’s brutality, a place where tens of thousands of opponents of Assad’s rule have suffered extreme torture and abuse. Over the years, the prison has been referred to as a “human slaughterhouse.”
Impact Shorts
View AllMeanwhile, reports are emerging that the Syrian army and security forces have left for Damascus International Airport. Hours after the rebel forces claimed to have entered the capital, sounds of shooting were heard in the centre of Damascus, The Guardian reported.
While the source of the shooting was not immediately clear, the fear of insurgency looms over the capital. Hence, the intense rebel advancements in the past 24 hours have left Assad’s 24-year rule dangling by a thread.
With inputs from agencies.